I remember when I was a little teenager, I came across such paintings. I found them appealing
but I didn’t really understand why they are so important. However, when I came to
know how much they really cost, I was absolutely shocked.
let me ask you: how much do you think this one cost (Salvator Mundi)?
few thousand dollars, maybe a hundred thousand dollars, how about a couple of millions.
Believe it or not, in 2017, it was sold for a staggering 450 million dollars and became
the most expensive painting to ever be sold at an auction.
But how did they come to the number? There isn’t any specific mechanism to figure out
how much exactly a painting should cost, however, there are certain factors that could affect
the price. That's why they are sold at auctions and whoever
is willing to pay the most will take the painting home.
The first and most important factor that raises the price of art is the year it was painted.
The older it is, the more expensive it gets, Salvator Mundi was painted by Da Vinci in
1500 for Louis XII. Throughout 5 centuries, it had exchanged the hands of the elites around
Europe and somehow survived up to our day which makes it even more valuable.
The artist's name is equally important. Da Vinci is famous for his masterpieces. He was
a scientist, inventor, mathematician, historian, engineer, architecture, painter, writer and
so on. But most importantly he is the author of the
most famous painting in the world - Monalisa, which automatically raises the value of all
of his other paintings, including Salvator Mundi.
Since these paintings are so old, they haven’t been always protected properly, I mean there
weren’t always as valuable as today. Many of them have been damaged multiple times and
a lot of money and time has been spent to restore them.
Since it was auctioned in 1763, Salvator Mundi disappeared from the record for over a century,
until it was bought by a British collector in 1900.
The painting was damaged from previous restoration attempts and has been attributed to a follower
of Leonardo, Bernardino Luini. And for the next hundred years, it was believed to be
a copy, that's why it was sold at an action in 1958 for just 59 dollars.
Later in 2005, the painting was resold for 10 thousand dollars to a consortium who believed
that it looked like a copy because it has been heavily overpainted. So they have spent
the next few years restoring the painting and The work was eventually authenticated
to Leonardo Da Vinci. Which skyrocketed its price.
And that's how a simple painting suddenly becomes so expensive.
But that's just part of the story because the real reason why a piece of art that looks
like it was painted by a little kid is suddenly sold for millions of dollars.
Let's say you are a multi-millionaire. You buy a piece of art from the primary market
for a million dollars. and hung it on the wall of your office.
After 5 years, you make 22 million dollars. You will have to pay a lot of taxes on that.
However, here is how you can avoid that. Remember the piece of art you have purchased for a
million dollars. Surprisingly now it worth 7 million dollars. its value has increased
over the last 5 years. Since you are such a generous guy, you donate
that piece of art to your favorite museum and you deduct 7 million dollars as a charitable
deduction from your 22 million dollars income. Now you pay taxes on only 15 million dollars.
Congratulations, you have saved millions of dollars in taxes. The media spreads the news
about what a generous person you are since you have donated a piece of art that costs
7 million dollars. And the museum puts your name right beside the painting so everyone
knows that it's you who donated it. And that's in my humble opinion is why art
is really so expensive.
Art is great, however, the real reason why they are so expensive has nothing to do with
the art itself, the elite of the society use art to avoid taxes and boost their image.
Hope this video was interesting. Thanks for watching and I will catch you guys in the
next one.